Big Red

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.

The New York Sun
NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

When I was growing up on Long Island, our family often spent Sunday afternoons out in Greenport, watching the fishing boats unload their catch. One day my father struck up a conversation with the captain of one such boat, who apparently enjoyed the chat so much that he presented us with a live 9-pound lobster, gratis. As we went off to look for a cooler and some ice, I overheard one fellow saying to another, “You know why he gave away that big lobster, right? Because big lobsters are tough! Everyone knows the smaller ones are sweeter and tenderer.”


Unfortunately, our lobster died before we could get him home, so we couldn’t cook him, but the bystander’s comment made an impression on me. This conventional wisdom has an attractive air of intuitive logic: After all, veal is sweeter than beef, lamb is milder than mutton, and a suckling pig is more delectable than a full-grown hog. So it stands to reason that a 1-pound lobster would taste better than a craggy old beast of a lobster, right?


But intuitive logic has its limits, especially when you’re comparing land animals to seafood. Jumbo shrimp, for example, are much tastier – and cost more per pound – than tiny shrimp. And have you ever heard of anyone throwing back a tuna, or any other fish, because it was too big? Could the conventional wisdom on lobsters be wrong?


After considerable investigation into this question, I was surprised to find near unanimous opinion on the matter. “It’s a wives’ tale,” said Barry Frommer, general manager of the estimable Queens seafood house London Lennie’s (63-88 Woodhaven Blvd., Rego Park, 718-894-8084).”We serve 5-pounders, 8s, sometimes 9s, and if you cook them properly, they’re as tender and tasty as a 1 1/2.”


But Mr. Frommer has a commercial interest in selling large lobsters, so I sought a more scientific analysis from the executive director of the University of Maine’s Lobster Institute, Robert Bayer. “All our research shows that a lobster’s flavor is based on what it’s been eating, not on its size,” he said. And what about tenderness? “As long as it’s cooked properly, there should be no difference.”


Note that Messrs Frommer and Bayer both emphasized proper cooking. “A bigger lobster is trickier to cook,” explained Mr. Frommer. “You steam a 2-pound lobster for 15 or 20 minutes and you can’t go wrong, but once you hit about 7 pounds, the claws cook faster than the tail. We’ll take the claws off first, start cooking the rest of the lobster, and then about 10 minutes into the cooking time we’ll put the claws in.”


So if you’ve ever eaten a plus-size lobster that was tough, chances are it just wasn’t cooked correctly. But I needed to see, and taste, for myself. During my research, I became mildly obsessed with how much fun it would be to eat a big lobster – a really big lobster. And a mere 8- or 9-pounder like the ones at London Lennie’s wasn’t going to satisfy me.


I gathered up four friends and headed off to Francisco’s Centro Vasco (159 W. 23rd St., 212-645-6224), the Spanish seafood emporium that specializes in what I’d started referring to as lobsterus maximus. It’s not exactly a subtle place – the primary decorating theme is a series of empty claw shells hanging from the ceiling, each one bearing a numerical indication of the lobster’s weight. I looked overhead at the massive specimen above our table, which was roughly the size of an oven mitt. It had a “40” written on it.


As I struggled to wrap my mind around the concept of a 40-pound lobster, a waiter arrived with a handwritten listing of the lobsters that were available that day. They topped out at a “mere” 22 pounds – plenty big for our purposes. We ordered a 13-pounder (priced at a cool $200, or about $15.35 a pound) and, for comparative purposes, a standard pound-and-a-quarter model ($16, or $12.80 a pound).When I asked if we could see the big guy before he went into the pot, the waiter said, “Absolutely. I’ll bring him out.” I got the impression that this was a fairly common request.


A minute later, he returned carrying a large platter, upon which sat the largest live lobster I’d ever seen. We gawked, took a few photos, made some comments that scaled new heights in obviousness (“It sure is big!”), and then waved good-bye as the huge crustacean was whisked away to the kitchen. It suddenly occurred to me that 13 pounds was the weight of a typical bowling ball. “It’s kind of a shame to be killing such a wise, old lobster,” mused a friend, suddenly experiencing twin bouts of guilt and anthropomorphism. “I mean, shouldn’t there be a point where you’re exempt from being caught and eaten?” A quick straw poll revealed that we were all feeling a bit uneasy about this, which was somewhat surprising. Usually it’s the young animals that trigger our collective cultural sympathy – the helpless veal calf, the adorable lamb. Fortunately, the food arrived before we could convene a full-scale ethical roundtable. The large lobster had been hacked into pieces of more manageable size, while the smaller lobster was served whole – it looked like a toy. Salad, green beans, cottage fries, and several cups of clarified butter completed the presentation. About 90 minutes, several butter stains, and innumerable Wetnaps later, I’d arrived at the following conclusions:


* A large lobster, cooked properly, is every bit as sweet and tender as a small one.


* Comparing the prices of large and small lobsters is deceptive, because the shell of a large lobster is proportionally heavier than the shell of a small one. In other words, a 6-pounder will not feed as many people as six 1-pounders.


* Despite this, eating a large lobster is a lot more fun, and worth the extra expense.


* That guy in Greenport was just jealous.

NY Sun
NEW YORK SUN CONTRIBUTOR

This article is from the archive of The New York Sun before the launch of its new website in 2022. The Sun has neither altered nor updated such articles but will seek to correct any errors, mis-categorizations or other problems introduced during transfer.


The New York Sun

© 2025 The New York Sun Company, LLC. All rights reserved.

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The material on this site is protected by copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, cached or otherwise used.

The New York Sun

Sign in or  Create a free account

or
By continuing you agree to our Privacy Policy and Terms of Use